A Vulnerable Hitter
by VisibleThunder
Summary: Eliot is their hitter. He is strong, and he does his job well. He protects his team- his family, whatever the cost. But he is still just a man. He can still be...vulnerable. VT
1. Chapter 1

First off, let me say I LOVE LEVERAGE. I was so mad when it got canceled! But! I wanted to write some fanfics for it, and my favorite person on the show was DEFINATLEY Eliot, so I made this!

If you like it, please leave me a review/comment saying whether or not I should make it a chapter thing, where I come up with more situations like this. Or if I should do this for everyone else on the team too. I think that sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if you people out there will like it enough, SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW! :)

Anyways, hope you enjoy!

_VT_

* * *

A Vulnerable Hitter

Eliot Spencer never considered himself to be a sensitive man.

He had grown up learning and being taught what it was to be strong. He had his fair share of hurt and even heartbreak, and though some of those memories still pained him today, he had moved on; as any man should. He had served his country, and become a criminal. Then, against all odds, he became part of a team. That team had now become his family. And so, Eliot did what he did best. He was their hitter. And he lived up to his title.

"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot's gruff voice snapped over the comms. "You were supposed to take care of the security, not lead them straight to me!" This was followed by the sound of a nose breaking, then the thud of a body being thrown somewhere. Next came the click of a door locking and a deep sigh from the long haired brunette.

"Man, then how 'bout you try to reset and fool the most advanced electronic security system without direct access! Huh? I'm working on it!" Hardison was typing furiously on his computer as he said this, trying to fool the system into thinking the threat was on a different floor. Sophie's accent then washed through the comms as she walked through the high-rise office building they were staged at. "Hardison, Nate, I've done all I can on my end. The mark is hooked, but I can't approach him again now; he's too perceptive for that." Nate nodded to himself, looking over Hardison's shoulder at his progress. "Hardison is almost done; Parker, you ready?" The blonde in question smiled slyly from her position inside the building. "Yep just tell me when."

A tense moment passed, the team knew how crucial it was that their timing was perfect, for fear that Parker or Eliot get caught or worse. The moment was gone when Hardison suddenly said, "now!"

Parker immediately dropped from the rafters in the celling. Landing gracefully and purposefully setting off the alarms as she did. At the same time, Hardison's quick fingers flew over the keyboard of his laptop as he did what he did best; hacking. In the meantime, Parker was strapping on a harness, and then jumping out the fifteen story window just as the security system shut everything down.

"Yea' baby, age of the geek!" Hardison took a celebratory swig of his ever-present orange soda as Nate smiled at another piece of the plan that fell perfectly into place. "Nice job guys, alright, meet here at the van, and we'll go back to prepare for the rest of the con."

Unknown to them however, right when Hardison had given Parker the signal, a guard had gone after Sophie. So, naturally, Eliot had tackled him to the ground and knocked him out. Sophie had listened to him when he told her to get to the van, and just as she left and Eliot was following another five guards had appeared. Smartly, they kept their distance. As a result, they had managed to force Eliot back into a small closet at gunpoint, just as the system had locked down. Eliot knew what had happened as soon as he heard all the electronic clicks and the alarms. He swore under his breath and tried to find something to get himself out with as he reported to Nate. "Nate, I just got backed into a closet, and now I'm locked in here. But I'm trying to find something to break myself out with."

The rest of the team, now safely in the van, tensed and gave each other worried looks. Nate immediately said, "Hardison, can you unlock that door?" The Hacker frowned as he shook his head. "I can't do that without opening every other door, and even if I could it would lead everyone in that building right to him. Sorry Eliot, but you're gonna' have to stay there until the security system reboots itself. Then you can sneak out." They heard another quiet swear, followed by an unusually quiet, "How long?" Hardison muttered, "Uhm…twenty minutes." Eliot's fists clenched, and he had to refrain from yelling. "Are you kidding me?!" He whispered as loud as he dared, hearing the guards start to leave, ordered to go look for the supposed real threat. "That's long enough for cops to completely surround this place!"

Nate sighed. He needed a drink, but that was going to have to wait, it seemed. "Eliot, sorry, but there's nothing we can do about it. Just sit and make yourself comfortable. We'll give you a distraction when we can, and get you out." Eliot sighed again, sat down, and mumbled, "Alright…" Nate furrowed his brows and shared a confused look with Sophie. Eliot seemed a bit off, but he didn't think any more on it. So they waited listening to the sirens approach. They weren't worried; having known Nate would have a plan in case this happened.

The sound of quick, hard breaths made its way through the comms, and Hardison checked to make sure it wasn't interference of some kind, before realizing it was in fact Eliot's breathing they were hearing. "Eliot? Are you alright?" Sophie phrased the question cautiously, hoping he hadn't been injured and not said anything.

Eliot had been sitting on the floor of the small dark closet, unintentionally curling in on himself and hugging his knees while trying to control his breathing. He was failing. "M'fine." He grunted, wincing at his quiet sounding voice. He was now feeling the familiar tug of a flashback, and he cursed, slowly closing his light blue eyes.

He remembered the darkness, and being cold; so, so cold. The suffocating tight space he had been locked in for God knows how long. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter. Managing to stop the flashback before it got worse. He hated feeling this weak and vulnerable. And all because of a damn closet! He spent the next minute trying to ignore the deep-rooted panic he could feel creeping up on him. _'Not here.'_ He thought to himself. _'Please, let me be able to control this…I can't afford this distraction now.' _His efforts to conquer his worsening anxiety were starting to prove futile, however.

"Eliot?" Parker asked, worried for her teammate and friend. She could hear his breathing getting harsher, more gasping and desperate each second. And though she didn't want to ask, she feared her rising suspicion was right…but Nate asked his question first. "Are you hurt? Did you get shot or break something? Talk to us Eliot, we can hear that you're not doing great in there." The Hitter heard the words 'in there' and started shaking slightly. And he had almost managed to distract himself enough to not remember where he was… Still loathing his lack of control and strength in these moments, Eliot tried in vain to control his rapidly worsening trembling. Yes, this was one of the only times when Eliot Spencer was sensitive; vulnerable.

""How much longer?" Hardison blinked at the quiver in the usually strong voice of their teammate, quickly answering, "About twelve minutes, Eliot." The man in the closet swore yet again, wondering how eight minutes could have seemed like so long. He tried taking deep breaths to calm himself even though he knew it was a lost cause. Nonetheless, he still had to try.

But Parker knew her notion was right as soon as she heard Eliot's wobbly voice ask that question. And she figured that he wouldn't want the team to know, that he was probably ashamed of it and wanted to ignore it; but she knew that she couldn't ignore it. Not now.

"Are you claustrophobic Eliot?"

This immediately earned the thief bewildered looks. And she looked back, saying, "What? I know about this, my partner had it for a while….at least, 'til I shoved her through ventilation shafts until it went away." She smiled at the last part, fondly remembering the hate then extreme gratitude she'd received for that. The team heard a gruff scoff over the comms, followed by Eliot's still shaky voice saying, "Only you would do that to a person Parker…..and….….yes. I am." He didn't want to admit this to them. But he knew he didn't really have much of a choice. Besides, he trusted them.

Nate leaned back in his seat, for once at a loss as what to do. He'd only met one person with claustrophobia. But he'd simply been a bit jumpy and anxious when in elevators, so if Eliot had a severe case…

"Shit." He received surprised blinks for the sudden swearing, but he ignored them. "Uhm, okay, just hang on Eliot." He turned to Sophie after saying that, taking out his comm to ask her, "What the hell can we do about this? Do you know anything about this?" The grifter nodded to Nate, remembering having to get close to a mark with the same problem. She only hoped she could help Eliot from a distance. "Eliot-focus. Breathe steadily, and just think about something else." Hardison chose this moment to pipe in, "Think about beating the shit out of Sterling."

He was rewarded with a weak, quiet chuckle. "Already tried that, actually. Didn't work as well as I'd h-hoped…" He hated the stutter in his voice. Hated the fact that he knew he couldn't calm down until he was outside. He hated the fact that his team needed to know that they couldn't do a thing to help him. His breathing was getting worse, quick, sharp intakes were all he could manage. His hands were shaking, he could feel sweat forming on his face, and he knew he was going to be stuttering when he talked. But he knew he needed to be honest with them.

"Y-you can't do anythin'…I won't be able t' calm down 'til m' outs-side." Yep, he was slurring and stuttering. Fantastic. But he heard the worried voice of Parker before he could berate himself further. "Hang in there Eliot. We're gonna' get you outta' there as soon as we can."

He replied with a simple quiet, "Yeah." He then took out his comm so that he could focus on controlling his rising panic. _' Just breathe deeply….Don't think about the fact you can't move more than a foot in any direction….J-just calm….down….dammit, I c-can't…'_

His team was silent. They knew they were all thinking the same thing, _'I hope we can get him outta' there quickly.' _But they knew there was nothing they could do until the security system reset and Hardison could have access again. They heard the click of his comm being set on the tile floor, and even then they could still hear his increasingly harsh breaths. Hating the fact that they couldn't do anything to help their friend as they heard his breathing get to a near- hyperventilating point. And so they all waited, willing time to move just a bit faster.

**_~~~~~~~~* 11 minutes later *~~~~~~~~~_**

"C'mon people move! We got a medical emergency here!"

Hardison had managed to set off the fire alarm as soon as he had access to the system again, and Nate and Parker had moved in disguised as paramedics. They quickly went to the hall Hardison directed them to, and thankfully managed to get Eliot out without a problem. But the unusual sight of their strong, stubborn Hitter curled shaking and gasping on the floor of an unbelievably small closet would stay with them for a while. Eliot had quickly looked up at them with grateful and trusting blue eyes, rushing out of the closet and leaning on the wall for support. They had given him a minute; Nate with his hand on Eliot's still shivering shoulder, before making their escape.

Eliot played his part well, seeing as all he had to do was stumble a bit, and let himself keep trembling and rasping for air. Nate pulled him up into the back of their "ambulance", and Parker drove them a short distance to their usual van, where Hardison and Sophie were anxiously waiting.

The hitter jumped out of the back of the ambulance, immediately looking towards the sky and taking a huge, deep breath of the city air. He stood there for a minute, getting his breathing back under control and calming his racing heart. Finally, when he no longer felt like he was going to pass out, he turned back to his team and walked towards them. He gave them a simple but meaningful, "Thanks."

The Leverage team smiled at Eliot, glad to see he was alright. And gave their own small nods, Hardison commenting, "You better not puke in the back of the van, dude." Eliot chuckled, amused at the hacker yet again. "Don't worry, I won't. Now let's get the hell outta' here already."

The team piled back into the van, and started their drive back to Nate's apartment. Soon after they left, Parker noticed Eliot's hands were still trembling. So being the socially clueless thief she was, she reached over next to her and put her hand over the brunette's, then blurted, "You're still shaking; are you sure you're okay?"

Eliot looked at his hands, finding they were in fact still shaking pretty badly. He nodded, seeing the others look back at him, concerned again. "Just…after effects, I guess. It'll go away, stop worryin', I'm fine."

Respecting their friend, they started chatting to pass the time, Hardison and Eliot striking up another notorious argument about the outdoors V.S. video games indoors. While Parker was content to add in her own comments occasionally, earing hilarious looks and exasperated comments from her team, Eliot was being grateful for his understanding friends, thinking that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing for them to see him so vulnerable. Nate, Sophie, and Hardison were simply glad to have everyone okay and back to their usual bickering.

Meanwhile, Parker was finding comfort watching the trembling in Eliot's hands fade more with every passing minute.

_VT_


	2. Chapter 2

_Well, here you all go. Sorry this took a little while, but I'm not gong to make any excuses, I was just lazy! I think this one is longer than the first chapter too. Hoping for feedback, and I hope you enjoy. :)_

_VT_

* * *

Eliot Spencer was in good shape.

He had to be, of course. After all, his job as a hitter was very physically demanding on a _slow_ day. He made sure to eat fairly well, and he cooked himself healthy meals almost every day. He also set up a gym in his basement, complete with a punching bag, a treadmill, and weights. Eliot made a point to work out there at least every other day, and he also made sure to practice his meditation when needed. So, all in all, Eliot was a healthy and strong guy.

So he questioned why he woke up with a pounding headache and aching limbs, and then nearly passed out when he tried to get out of bed.

Eliot managed to stumble his way to his small bathroom, pressing his palm against his aching temple as he went. Turning on the light as he walked in, Eliot winced at the brightness and then looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was frizzy, eyes were squinted and dull looking, and his skin was pretty pale. He grumbled under his breath and resigned himself to taking an aspirin before going and getting ready for the day, knowing he had to be to Nate's apartment soon.

_'Why do I feel like this?'_ Eliot questioned himself as he was getting ready. _' I haven't been sick in years…But I know for certain I wasn't poisoned this time, so I wonder if perhaps it's just a head cold or a migraine…Hm, that's probably it.'_ Satisfied with that answer, he decided to stop dwelling on it and to just get through the day.

Once ready, he decided to walk over, thinking it might help clear his head and that the fresh air might help his dizziness a bit. He grabbed his wallet and left, the walk taking him a bit longer than it should have. He found himself hoping that today's job was a fairly easy one so that he could head home and rest sooner.

Eliot walked into Nate's apartment minutes later, immediately going and sitting with Sophie and Parker at the 'briefing counter'. He sighed, wishing once again that Hardison and Nate would hurry up in the mornings. He ignored Parker's rant about stealing the Mona Lisa, opting instead to focus on lessening the throbbing in his temples. Fortunately, the mastermind and hacker were there within the next ten minutes, wasting no time in starting to tell the info for their latest job.

The mark was another typical rich guy who thought he could steal people's investment money. The family that had contacted them lost all their savings, and etcetera, etcetera. Eliot found that he was having a hard time paying attention to what Hardison was saying, and he became pretty worried when the images on the screens in front of him started to blur and twist together. He blinked hard, and realized that he was actually very hot…_'this had better be just a one-day thing…'_ The hitter thought irritably as he pressed his fingers hard against his aching temples again.

He realized then that his name had been called. Eliot looked up, grateful that everything appeared much less blurry now. He turned to Nate, and grunted, "Hm? What?"

Nate frowned at the muscled man, wondering about his strange behavior. "You alright Eliot? You seem distracted today." Sophie turned to him and used her 'motherly tone' to say, "You do seem a bit pale…"

The hitter sighed again, mentally cursing his inability to hide his symptoms. "I'm fine, just have a headache is all."

Hardison and Parker frowned at Eliot too, a bit concerned for their teammate. But Nate nodded, accepting the answer before turning back to Hardison and saying, "Keep runnin' it."

The hacker complied, giving the team more info on the mark and his background history. Sophie, however, wasn't as satisfied with Eliot's excuse. _'He wouldn't be acting like he is if it was a simple headache…he's too stubborn for something like that to bother him so much.' _Her musings were proven correct when she noticed the small movement the muscled man made next. Eliot swayed ever-so-slightly in his chair, cautiously placing his crossed arms on the counter for balance. The grifter also took notice to the beads of sweat running down her friend's jaw and neck.; knowing that Eliot was definitely not 'fine', Sophie decided to simply watch him to make sure he was alright, since she knew he wouldn't admit it if he wasn't.

The rest of the briefing passed rather quickly, the team had a con planned to do over the course of four days, and they were just getting ready to head out for the first stage of the plan when the unthinkable happened. Eliot went down.

The pale hitter had gotten up and turned to head out the door, when vertigo suddenly struck him. At the same time Eliot felt his already high temperature spike even more, and his suddenly shaky and weak limbs were unable to stop him from falling to the floor. His team was instantly worried and rushing to him, all thinking the same things: _'Eliot! Is he okay? What's wrong with him?'_

Parker reached him first, reaching and gently rolling the brunette so that he was on his back; Sophie putting his head in her lap in case he was injured somehow. They were all shocked when Eliot didn't object to this, and even more surprised when they noticed his slight tremors, sweating and pained- looking face, and now even more pale skin.

Sophie lightly patted Eliot's cheek, trying to snap him from the daze his glassy eyes said he was in. Eliot blinked and glanced up at the grifter, taking a deep breath before moving to try and get up. Nate's hand was immediately on his shoulder pushing him back down, and the mastermind stated, "You just passed out for a second, you need to stay there for a minute and tell us what's wrong." Eliot frowned at him, and grunted out, "I think I've just got a bad migraine…I got dizzy when I turned to leave. I'll be fine Nate; you don't need to baby me." His last sentence was spoken with irritability. Hardison spoke up with a determined,"Nuh'-uh' man! He had better not get me sick dude!"

"Eliot, you're burning up. You're going to need to lie down for a while, because you are clearly not in a shape where you can run a job." Sophie's tone clearly left no room for argument, and surprisingly, Eliot actually agreed. He fussed of course, grumbling about 'motherly grifter' and 'worrying too much, it's just a fever', but he allowed Parker to lead him to Nate's bed upstairs, and for Sophie to give him ice packs and a thermometer while Hardison made him soup. Eliot figured_, 'they are….pretty much my family. Besides, I can be lazy and enjoy this, I suppose….and I'll certainly love ordering Hardison around!' _ Nate told them later that they would simply start the con tomorrow, or whenever Eliot was better.

Things were slow for the next hour or so, Eliot lounging and watching sports with Nate, Sophie was teaching Parker body language for grifting, and Hardison was playing another one of his endless computer games. Sophie had made Eliot check his temperature again to be safe, and the hitter had argued before finally giving in to the incredibly stubborn grifter. However, Sophie's gasp when she looked at his temperature was a bit disconcerting. She looked at him and said, "You need to go to the hospital right now."

Naturally, Eliot immediately said, "There's no way I'm going there and there's no need for that. It's not that bad Sophie; calm down." Sophie just stated, "Your temperature is at 104.9 degrees. I'm pretty sure that's too high, Eliot!"

The sick hitter frowned. "That's not right. I don't feel nearly that bad. The thermometer's probly' just broken." Sophie huffed and said, "Then check it again." The hitter complied just to satisfy her, a bit shocked when the reading came back at 105.6 degrees. "Yeah, hospital." Sophie's voice was determined, and Nate added, "Eliot, you can't brush that temperature off." So, the now grumpy hitter was forced into the car and driven to the hospital, and Parker was frustrated about being told she had to stay at the apartment; grumbling that she could get them to the hospital faster.

Nate was concerned. Eliot's temperature was as high as Sam's had gotten before…the mastermind quickly ignored that thought, focusing on driving as quickly as possible to the hospital.

Sophie was sitting in the back of the car with Eliot, and noticed the hitter's breathing was very harsh and quick. She put her hand on his leg, hoping to offer some comfort of some sort. Eliot gave her a glare that read : ' I'd –knock- your- hand- off- me- but- I –fee-l like -shit –you- should –stop- touching -me -now –dammit- Sophie- stop –mothering- me.' Sophie complied, but was now even more worried because of the heat she had felt radiating off the hitter's leg. She hoped Nate would hurry…

Hardison handed all of them a new license and cards, saying, "Here y'all go, you new identities. Nate, you married to Sophie and Eliot is Sophie's brother. I'm Nate's cousin, but I'm gonna stay in the car unless you need me, so I can wipe the records once you leave." Nate nodded, pleased with Hardison's quick work. "Thanks Hardison. We shouldn't need you in there, but we'll call if we do."

Eliot was hearing all this in a daze. He hated how weak he was right now, but knew there wasn't much he could do until his fever went down. He tried to get a full breath of air, but found that he couldn't. He started breathing quicker and realized that he actually was _very_ hot. His vision started to blur, and he became concerned as soon as Nate's form started to morph into someone else's. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing he had started to hallucinate and began willing the delusions away.

Sophie, being the talented grifter she was, noticed all this almost as quickly as Eliot did. She placed her hand on his cheek, eyes widening at the fact that the temperature was uncomfortably hot even to her hand. "Nate, drive faster. His temperature is still rising. Eliot, are you feeling alright?"

The long haired brunette opened his bleary blue eyes and turned them towards Sophie's voice. He couldn't make out any of her features…then he realized she was moving…no wait, she was still there. _'What's wrong with me?'_ Eliot questioned. _'This can't be a normal fever…maybe I was poisoned after all…?'_ Out loud though, he only said, "I just have a fever, Sophie. Stop worrying so much…" Sophie raised an eyebrow at this, clearly seeing the Eliot was once again trying to hide how bad it was. But she knew it was pointless to try and argue with the stubborn hitter, so she resigned herself to have to wait until they got to the hospital.

Thankfully, Nate's driving got them there within the next few minutes. Sophie and Nate jumped out, and Eliot started to get out when he was hit with another heat wave. The hitter swayed dangerously, and Nate was just reaching out to steady him when he instead ended up catching Eliot as he passed out. The hitter was limp in Nate's arms, who was struggling to hold the man up. "Sophie!" Was all he said before the grifter rushed to help get Eliot leaned up against the car. They were both giving each other nervous looks, for Eliot's temperature was _way_ too high, and they could both tell this just from brief touches. Sophie ran to the building, saying she was going to have them bring a stretcher out, since they couldn't carry Eliot all the way to the hospital building.

Nate was focused on tying back Eliot's hair, which was only getting stuck to his face and neck with sweat. The unconscious hitter was trembling and rasping for air. The mastermind was extremely concerned for Eliot. He had never seen Eliot with anything more than a sniffle, and now he was passing out from fever? Nate was hoping it _was_ only a fever, and not something more serious.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Sophie walking back, just behind two men that were pushing a stretcher with them. He stood and motioned them over, frustrated that he could only watch as they lifted the seemingly lifeless Eliot onto the stretcher and wheeled him towards the hospital. He was in a bit of a daze as he and Sophie were questioned and given forms and papers to fill out, while Eliot had disappeared behind the white double doors that brought back too many bad memories for Nate.

**_~~~~~~~~~~~*A little while later *~~~~~~~~~~~_**

Nate and Sophie were sitting impatiently in the lobby, waiting to hear about Eliot. They were then approached by a tall blonde doctor. He asked, "You are Dave and Alana Harman? You came here with your brother Chris, yes?" Nate nodded. "Yeah, that's us. So how is he?" the doctor told them to follow him, saying Chris was on the fourth floor and he'd fill them in while they went to his room.

The doctor introduced himself as Cole. Telling them they could call him by his first name. He then started telling them about Chris' condition. "He had a very good immune system. Problem is, he caught a nasty aggressive form of the flu fever, just without the side effects of the normal flu. His system appears to be overcompensating with the fever, and his temperature spiked to 108 at one point, so we had to put him in an ice bath. Unfortunately, for some reason this only worked temporarily. His temperature spiked back up afterwards, and now we can't do anything about it. You see, if we were to keep putting him in ice baths, the contrast between temperatures would only cause more harm. The only thing we can do is give him meds for the fever and monitor him to make sure his temperature doesn't spike any higher than 106. Right now, it's at a steady 104."

By now, they were walking to Eliot's room, and being told that he would have to stay overnight. They were told what to watch for, before being left alone with Eliot, who was still asleep on the hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, and had a probe on his arm that displayed his heart rate and temperature on a screen above the bed. He was still pale and looked to be in pain, but he looked better than before, which calmed Sophie considerably.

Nate hated every second in the building, but sighed and resigned himself to staying overnight to watch Eliot to make sure no one tried to take advantage when he was weakened. He told Sophie and Hardison to head back to the apartment, and that he'd be fine to stay on the couch in the room. He quickly grew bored, however, but knew that he had to stay.

Everything was going okay; Eliot's temperature hadn't risen, though it hadn't fallen either. But, once night had fallen, Eliot started to drift in and out of consciousness, and he was hallucinating. Nate quickly took notice of his rapidly rising temperature and called for a nurse. One came, and tried to adjust the IV to help. However, Eliot's temperature was already at 109, and the nurse made Nate stay there while more nurses came and wheeled Eliot to another ice bath. Nate could only wait and worry, knowing he'd only be in the way then sent back if he left.

After five minutes, the mastermind was fed up with waiting, and left the room to search for Eliot. _'Screw it…I'm not waiting…where is he?'_ Nate was thinking this as he searched, and soon found him, doctors were fretting over him, and he had to try very hard not to flashback to when Sam was…

He was broken from his thoughts when he saw how high Eliot's temperature had risen. A red 110.4 was on a screen next to the barley conscious hitter. By now, the others had woken up from Nate alerting them and were frantically asking Nate to fill them in. He started telling them, and at the same time could only watch as the doctors tried ice, medicine, and anything else to get his temperature to drop, but nothing seemed to be working. Nate's own heart was beating just as fast as Eliot's at this point, and he swore his stopped at the same time he saw that flat line appear across the heart monitor screen. His abrupt gasp caused the team to start yelling in his ear again, but Nate wasn't able to answer them this time.

His thoughts were a whirlwind in those moments. All he could hear was the high pitched beep and the sound of his own scream. He saw doctors over his son, or was it Eliot on the table? He couldn't tell the difference…

Nate saw the doctor try and use the defibrillator, but the cables had been cut. In the back of his mind, Nate thought that was suspicious, but he was more focused on trying not to scream or cry over the comms. The doctor was pressing rhythmically on Eliot's still chest, while a nurse ran to go get another defibrillator. Nate watched in awe as all of a sudden, Eliot took a gasp of air.

The heart monitor started beeping to Eliot's rapid heartbeat, and Nate couldn't believe what he'd just seen. The doctors couldn't seem to either. They were just staring at the man who had apparently suddenly come back to life. Now, the ice covering the pale hitter seemed to start working, Eliot's temperature dropped down to 103 fairly quickly, and his heart and breathing rate gradually went back to normal. Nate let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding as he fell onto the bench in the hall. The mastermind put his head in his hands to try and block his memories and chaotic thoughts, thinking_, 'I need a drink…' _Before realizing he needed to fill in the rest of his team to what had just happened.

Nate interrupted everyone's worried voices with a sharp but quiet, "Guys!" And the team grew quiet from habit. Sophie's irritated voice asked Nate, "What the hell just happened over there? Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine…Eliot's temperature spiked real bad…and he was having trouble breathing. The doctors took him again, and I followed after a minute. He…he died. Right in front of me… I couldn't do anything…" _'It was just like with Sam.' _Were the unspoken words that everyone heard. The team was, for once, speechless. Parker's unusually small voice wavered over the comms asking, "But he's okay now, right?"

Nate responded with a simple, "Yes. I'm just following them back to the room; his temperature has finally gone back down to a normal range. It's still high, but much better thankfully." The team waited as they heard Nate conversing with the doctor again, and they were all concerned for their teammate. "They're telling me they want to keep him tomorrow too, but I think Eliot will put a stop to that when he wakes up. I'm gonna' go back and get some coffee, you guys can stop worrying, he really is better now."

The team wasn't too happy about it, but they knew there was really nothing they could do right now. So, they let Nate be, and went back to doing their own strange midnight activities.

Nate, now back in the hospital room with Eliot, was sipping a very strong cup of coffee and taking comfort in watching the strong, steady rise and fall of Eliot's chest.

**_~~~~~~~~~~* The next morning *~~~~~~~~~~_**

"There is no way I'm stayin' here! I'm perfectly fine- There's no need!"

Eliot had woken up pretty early. And though at first he was very tired and confused, remembering very little, now he was back to his usual grumpy, stubborn self. Nate had watched amused as he scared off all the nurses that had come to fret over him, and was now arguing willfully with the doctor. He had given him back his comm when he woke up, so he could hear Hardison and Parker snickering at what they were hearing, and could very easily picture Sophie's eye rolling expression.

Nate tried to help the cause. "Chris is very opposed to hospitals… how about we just stay with him the rest of the day to make sure his temperature doesn't spike up again?" The doctor was adamant, but agreed when he saw Eliot's intimidating glare. And soon enough, Nate was back in the car with Eliot and Parker, heading back to the apartment.

Once there, Eliot was greeted with smiles and a punch on the shoulder from Hardison. The team went back to being briefed about the new plan for their mark. Eliot quickly proclaimed, "Don't you dare change the plan because of me, I can handle it."

Nate responded with a calm but firm, "There's no need to rush. We're gonna' get prepared today, the start tomorrow. That'll give you time to rest a bit, and we can relax. Have a bit of patience."

This time, Eliot knew he was outmatched, so he relented. The team decided to waste the rest of the day with a poker game and Eliot's signature cooking, all of them happy to spend the relaxing time together.

They were all, of course, eager to get things back to normal, and Eliot was especially happy to be back to his usual healthy state. Once again ready to kick ass at a moment's notice. After all, that was his job- being their Hitter.

_VT_


End file.
